Fishermen back to sea as fishing ban ends, sea food prices to come down

In a good news to sea food lovers who are affected by its skyrokceting prices, the 61-days ban on fishing has ended and fishermen have ventured into sea today.

Having completed overhauling works, the mechanised boats are ready to set sail on Wednesday itself. Arrival of huge tonnes of icebars, drinking water cans and other essential commodities for cooking food on board obviously indicated sailing in the early hours of Thursday.

The ban was imposed from April 15 to June 14. A fishermen said that they are hoping for good catch as they are entering into the sea after a ban period of two months.

M. Dharmapitchai, president, Thoothukudi Mechanised Fishing Boat Fishermen Labourers Association, said that against the normal fishing season, the usage of ice bars would be more now.

Since all the boats remained moored in this hot summer season during the ban, more ice bars were required to keep the fishholds cold.

As per the ban, fishing using boats with engines with 10 HP capacity and above was prohibited. The order was put in place by the state fisheries department, in a bid to facilitate breeding of fish and conservation of stock in marine ecology.